Governor Purdue: How Shall Ye Deliver

In Saturday’s edition of the News and Observer, we saw this article. The article lists the top nine challenges our first female governor is going to face. After blinking and taking another sip of Saturday morning coffee I confirmed that it was a top nine list. Top nine? Nine? Shaking my head I plowed into those challenges.

The introduction was fair enough. The facts were laid out with enough detachment that I couldn’t say that anyone was rooting for or rooting against anyone else. However, we couldn’t get out of that intro without the obligatory “this is as bad an economy we have seen since the Great Depression”. I hate that. I mean really REALLY hate that type of scare mongering. I hold that this type of hype, this irresponsible posturing that has caused much of America’s fear. And to make it worse, we are seeing it on both sides of the aisle. Truly a bi-partisan effort to freak us all out.

Okay, so,’nough said about the preamble, lets get to the main course.

1). The Budget – Not surprisingly, this is first on list; and it should be. And I wanna see how she is going to handle this. ith a shortfall estimate of 3 billion, she is going to have a challenge. To her credit, she seems to want to resist raising taxes. In fact she acknowledged that a tax increase might be a bad idea:

I don’t believe that you can raise taxes in an economy with folks struggling the way they are.

Now, I would have liked to hear a little bit more about why she feels that way; right now it has the tone of a campaign promise. But she follows this up with a nod to education and a pretty honest assessment of where we are:

My goal would be to hold the classroom and teachers and kids as harmless as possible. After that, you have to be a realist and do what you have to do to make the budget balanced.

2). Dropout Rate – This is where Democrats always stumble. They correctly and consistently have education near the top of their priority lists, and that is exactly where we should have it. However, liberals are always always always wrong [and predictable] when it comes to how to actually do something here. Their only answer is to spend more. And then, spend more to study why spending more isn’t working. To me the answer is pretty straight forward. The problem for Purdue and her party; they are indebted to the very folks that they can not afford to alienate; teachers and the whole “Educational Establishment”. Until teachers and Principals can be subjected to otherwise normal competition based advancement, we will be stuck with subpar education.

3) Green Economy – So, really, this is whatcha got? I mean, the economy is so freakin obvious, and then education is so freakin Democrat that really, this is the first of the rest, and this is pathetic. Now, I will only give Green Jobs credit here in our State because The Chairman is promising to spend like a billion 150 billion dollars on Green Jobs. So, when it comes to “free” money, the prudent thing to do is take. Otherwise, the concept of Green makes me wanna lose my belly. Don’t get me wrong, one day oil is gonna run out. And, if we can stretch the oil we do have even further by investing in alternative energy or by increasing efficiency of that oil–I am ALL for it. Just don’t pull this bullshit about Global Warming. </rant>

4) Mental Health System – This one befuddles me. I have zero insight into the mental health system, much less how or why it’s broken. My only take – the more we rely on government health care to provide health care, the less health care we will actually get. Serious, think about it. When was the last time “Government” provided any sort of innovation? Never! The only thing that can happen when we try and have government run anything is attempted cost containment, corruption, buracracy and failure.

5) Obesity – Another health issue. And again, the alarms are sounding. I am not sure what the answer is to this one, but I am pretty sure that it has nothing to do with government. For a peek into what that might loook like, check this scenario out. [H/T Carpie Diem]. The only thing that prevents me from totally bashing this is the fact the article refers to children. I maintain that kids are not subject to the normal rules I have for society as a whole. In other words, if an adult wants to eat themselves into oblivion, that HAS to be their choice-and their issue. But kids, yeah, we may be better served to develop a solution to this one. I suspect that libs wouldn’t be too keen on my thoughts though: Put ’em to work!

6) Open Government – This is a throw away. She deserves one, but come on–number 6? Serious?

7) Probation – I honestly think this has to go to the real number #1 slot. In other words, it should be ahead of Global Warming Green Jobs. Really. This one is so UP THERE that almost nothing else is as important. We have criminals who are out on probation not once meeting their probation officer. We have folks committing crimes and not being followed up on. Guys are falling through the cracks all over the place. Really, this HAS to be higher than 7.

8) Campaign Reform – Only thing I can say. Endowment fund.

I can raise enough money for both the Republican and Democratic candidates in 2012.

This should be fun to watch.

9) Transportation – Again, I think this one rates a bit higher than it’s being listed. We’re so far behind in road works and the money to fund them. It may be time to at least consider privatising our roads.